The Price of Victory | Xiao x Reader x Zhongli

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚: 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘣𝘺𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴

The Liyue before the Archon War was so different from the one that the mortals know in the present time. It was a deserted place, with a few groups of people scattered here and there.

Among a field of glaze lilies stood a woman with long, grey hair, singing to them. Her billowing sleeves were touching the ground, getting dirty in the process, but she didn't seem to care about it, even though her clothes were white.

To the man approaching her, she seemed like a human at first, but as he got closer, he realized, judging from her attire and appearance, that she was the god he was looking for.

She picked a flower and got up, dusting herself off. She turned to face her guest, analyzing him with her light blue eyes that made her look blind. She was smiling, despite the non-friendly look on the other's face.

"Ah, it's you. I was expecting you. I thought that you would never show up," he kept glaring at her.

"I'm Guizhong, God of Dust. What is your name?" He didn't answer. She sighed and took a step closer, but he immediately pulled out his spear, pointing it towards her. She didn't back away nor got scared.

"Put the weapon down. I didn't ask you to come here to fight. Jeez, why are all the male gods so...! So...! Dense!" She lost her cool for a second. "Don't laugh at me!" Guizhong put her finger up in an accusatory gesture, pointing at him.

"What do you want from me?" His deep voice took her by surprise. His appearance didn't necessarily suggest that he would have a soft voice, but she wasn't expecting it to be like that either. She could swear that she felt the ground shaking when he opened his mouth to speak.

"I want to form an alliance with you"

"What makes you think that I would accept to rule next to the likes of yours?"

"You are the Warrior God, one of the strongest gods to exist in Teyvat at the moment, and yet you don't own that many lands nor have that many people worshipping you," her words seemed to have hit a nerve as he frowned harder. "Like many others, you lack in strategy and wisdom. With my brains and your brawns, we could change the future of this land"

But her words didn't seem to petrify his stone walls. She was so close to giving up, when she heard humans approaching. She took a few steps towards them, ignoring the spear pointed at her.

"Humans are fragile beings and they yearn for intelligence out of fear. I wish I could be strong enough to protect them, but I am not. I could teach them all the secrets of this world, nothing will last if I can't protect them," she said, looking at the father and his son that came to hunt.

Guizhong was a kind-hearted god, that took her role as a protector seriously. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to shield them if a war broke out, she sought help from the nearby gods, but all of them turned her down and laughed at her. He was her last hope and she needed to convince him.

She outstretched her arm towards him and a strange object appeared in her hand, glowing yellow.

"This is my stone dumbbell. All of my wisdom lies within it. If you can unlock it, I shall give up pressuring you to join me. I can't fight you, so I hope that this challenge is enough for you. Do we have a deal?" He looked suspiciously at the thing and then back at her, trying to see if she was fooling him.

He eventually took the object and tried unlocking it, but to no avail. Guizhong returned to her glaze lilies, singing to them again, as the other god was struggling with the complicated puzzle. After what felt like hours, he stood in front of her, with the dumbbell unmoved in his hand.

"A deal is a deal. I will unite forces with you and help you defend your people. I also hope that someday, you will share some of your vast knowledge with me," she smiled at him and got up.

"It will be my pleasure. I will go gather my people," he handed her back the dumbbell, but she pushed it back towards him. "You can keep it. Consider it a mark of our pledge"

As she was about to leave, he opened his mouth and spoke again.

"My name is..."

"Yes?" She looked at him with excitement in her eyes.

"My name is Rex Lapis"

"Nice to meet you, Rex"

The two gods ruled together in peace along their people and the adepti. But the outbreak of the Archon War ruined all of their happiness. In the battles that followed, Rex Lapis lost Guizhong, former friends and allies, and in the end, her.